Nostalgia

To say Christian was stressed would almost be accurate, if lately he hadn't been feeding on the feeling of being busy. It was a good trait to have really, at least, if you were a Centurion. His left hand was still bandaged after being impaled with a knife three days prior. There was ambrosia, but until Corinne and Rowan had both given blessings and forgiveness for leaving camp during such a crucial time, Christian was sticking with the injury. Can't hit someone if they're already injured.

Afternoon drill was going, and Christian had made it a point to get up to date on his duties before attending to New Rome's prisoner. First, was one of his own people that he had to speak to. She'd nearly scorched a dozen members of Cohort One. No matter how proud Christian was, it was dangerous, and it was his duty to make sure she understood that. He found her where he'd asked her to be, in the currently desolated barracks of Cohort Five.

"Sam." He called for her, walking in. It was good to not be suited up in armor for the moment, considering he felt like less of an authority figure. "I'm glad you could make it, I think we need to talk about some of your tendencies."

Her comrades in the Legion, her fellow demigods warned Sam endlessly about the dangers of magic, of sorcery. But, Sam knew more than their limited grasp of understanding in regards to that field. Magic was to her an ocean, a river, it ebbed and flowed, came in and out like a tide. To those not attune to it or otherwise unaware, it felt like trying to describe colour to a creature that could not see. Yet for all her mastery or rather desire to possess mastery in the arcane arts of magic... Sam had much to learn, many of her powers were effected by her emotions, her desires and even her thoughts to some degree.

The incident yesterday proved that much. It all began with a simple shove by one of the demigods in the first cohort, a son of Mars with the build of a giant. Though from Sam's perspective, many people were as she tended to be on the small side. Now, it was not Samantha who had been pushed but rather her friend. Sam possessed few of those as she tended to be rather difficult to like as a person. Yet, she happened to be rather defensive about her friends, incredibly loyal some might say. Instead of ignoring it, Samantha squared up to the son of Mars, the pair had never ever gotten on. Forming a bitter rivalry, that barely kept itself contained by bonds of Legion loyalty. She forgot what she had said to him, probably something about apologising. But the big dumb ape disagreed, leaving the red haired demigod already in a foul mood not other option than violence.

Okay so maybe it was not a good idea to try and hit him with a fire ball, okay so perhaps starting fires near things that tended to be flammable was a poor choice... But, it still proved that she could use magic. It also proved her detractors correct however, that sorcery was dangerous and Sam as a result a hazardous liability.

Sam was seated on the edge of her bed, nervously twiddling her fingers, interlocking them and un-interlocking them swiftly. Sensing her apprehension, the current of sorcery flowed around her mind, she could feel it, she knew she could channel it's power. Yet to draw too much at once would be a costly mistake, for it hurt herself more than the enemy or her targets. Particularly if she lost control mid cast. Samantha ignored it with difficulty, she happened to be attune to it. She could not imagine not being, how did those who's minds were ignorant to sorcery manage? How might they understand what came to her innately?

Sam wore a baggy purple camp Jupiter shirt with black demi shorts and black leggings. She wore no trainers, leaving her purple camp Jupiter socks visible. Her bright ginger hair was tied up in a loose ponytail, her heart raced in her chest, like the wings of a trapped bird. She understood why Christian wanted to see her, after all a fight between legionnaires is serious stuff. Lost in her own thoughts, the small teenager jumped when Christian spoke to her. She turned to face him, not yet getting up off of her bed. "Christian." She greeted him back, politely. Sam listened to him, he wanted to talk. Another demigod might of made a joke as a result of the tension. Samantha however did not, she never seemed to make any jokes, ever.

"I take it you wish to talk about my powers and why I should not stand up against those who wrong me and my friends?" Sam inquired, her voice quiet. There was a big difference between standing up for oneself and almost putting a dozen or more people in the infirmary. In the end no one had too... This time at least.

Christian didn't respond with a harsh tone, it was one of the reasons he wasn't popular with Tiberius, the Praetor who didn't want him to reach his position, he'd have to thank Roz for that. "I get it, you were treated wrong, it made you angry." Christian responded respectfully to the girl. She was small, small enough that most people could probably carry her without an issue, and yet Christian had become all to aware over her time here that you didn't mess with this girl.

"I know you don't really want to hear that I can relate, but I can. Whether you're Probatio or Centurion, you're gonna work with people you really don't like." Christian paused. "Seriously. People you hate. Some people, you just can't change that with. But I've found that isn't always the case." Christian gestured for her to stand up, and come to the window. "I wanna show you something."

Sam fixed him with a glare, barely managing to resist the desire to channel some of her power into a spell. "You do not get. No one does." She responded, sounding harsher than she actually meant to. Her anger boiling in her blood for the moment being directed at Christian. An act she thought to be somewhat unfair of her, it was probably due to him that she was not in truly serious trouble.

If it only it was easy to explain everything, but such a complex thing could not readily be conveyed in a conversation. What Samantha like in physical strength, she more than made up with her sorceress talents. However she was reckless, undisciplined and impulsive, traits unwelcome in a legionnaire. Almost as unwelcome as her magical power. She found it hard to believe that anyone could possibly relate to her. Yet, she preserved and listened to Christian. Not due to him being a centurion, rather him being a friend, one of the few she possessed. Plus he had always helped her out, particularly when Sam was fresh to the legion all those years ago.

"I could solve the problem quite easily." She muttered just loud enough to be heard, Sam looked for a heartbeat like a rebellious teenager, being scolded for not tidying their room. She stood when Christian gestured her to do so and followed him to the window. "I take it we are not here for the view." The red hair teenager pointed out, her green eyes flashing with a certain level of curiosity. Yet visible also was the hurt and pain, things that Sam kept locked away from all if possible.

"Yeah, maybe." Chrsitian replied to her mutter. "Or maybe you'd just start something else." Christian's reply wasn't sarcastic, but it was meant to try and make her think of the big picture. Killing someone wasn't a simple thing. How many people would be effected by something like that?

"Nope, we see this place everyday, I'm sure not forgetting it anytime soon." Christian replied to her, despite her bluntness. He scanned the outisde, in the Field of Mars, until he spotted her. "There!" He pointed. "That's Carter and Sophia Virgo." He said, factually. "I'm sure you've heard of them." His tone conveyed a light-hearted sense of humor. Everyone knew the damned Virgo family, richest and most entitled. He flashed his bandaged hand to the Sam. "That girl out there. I've known who she is for over 6 years now. Never once liked her, and yet, she stopped what would be my death into something as small as this. I owe that girl my life now. Think about what might happen if you go too far one day. That kid dies, and then, what if he was supposed to save someone later? We're family. We should stick together." He assured.

"As Centurion, I'm supposed to give you the tools to succeed. To some people, that means I should be screaming in your face. But, I'm not really that good at it." Christian was modest somewhat, he'd done good at yelling in poise training. But behind the doors of closed barracks, he liked to be on the same level as his people. "I'd rather ask you what you think I can do to help you."

"Entirely possible." Sam countered quickly. "Though how can one describe something to others incapable of understanding it? They fear what they do not understand." Magic came innately to Samantha, part of her divine heritage, to those who lacked it or to whom magic was beyond their capability to understand, she was unknowable. Sam glanced down at her hands, tiny flickers of eldritch power sparking from her finger tips. Sorcery tended to unpredictable, it seemed to be benefit from her emotions almost. Hatred, anger, pain being the main ones she could draw off of to increase the effectiveness of a spell. With effort she calmed herself, the tiny flickers dying out slowly as if they never truly existed.

She attempted to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes everyone has heard of them." Samantha sounded unusually bitter about it. Her sourness over the Virgo family came not from the family itself but rather her own envy, they were a family, with generations. Sam was just Sam or Samantha depending on what or who tended to be addressing her. No last name, no family beyond that of her mother's. Samantha looked away from Christian. "That is easier to say than to do." She walked a few steps through the barracks, looking smaller and vulnerable than ever before. An air of dejection hung about her like a heavy cloak. Other people at least knew what it was like to be in a regular family. If Sam did or ever had, the memories were lost to her.

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Sometimes I question why the wolves even decided to test me. I'm no legionnaire... No Roman." Her voiced cracked, it almost sounded like she was about to cry.

"That's not true." Christian protested her doubt. "Being a Roman doesn't mean you're six feet tall and can throw a pilum two hundred feet." Christian was adamant to her, in a warm way. It broke his heart to know one of his own felt so out of place in his Cohort. "You're Roman because you're one of us, you're one of our people." Christian persisted. He didn't want Samantha to leave the barracks thinking there was no hope for her future at all.

"I know what this place looks like at first glance. Like it's just a place where people like us won't die." The legacy reached his hand out to her. He wasn't just going to make any contact without permission, but his hand was there. He'd do it for anyone in the Cohort. "My old centurion, Roz, showed me that it could be something more. It could be a new start. I can tell you, without even an ounce of doubt, that this place, New Rome? This place saved me. More than just my pulse."

"One of us?" Samantha echoed, her voice think with disbelief and pain. "I feel so very out of place... My powers, my mother scares many and draws the ire of some." She gestured with her hand as there were several invisible Legionnaires before her. "It is a sanctuary. Theoretically the only one we have, therefore logically we all have to work together in order to keep ourselves but also the others safe." Even Sam's own powers possessed limits, given enough foes she would fall like any Legionnaire, no. Like any Demigod.

Sam glanced at the hand, her eyes flashing with uncertainty as she considered accepting it. She pursed her lips for a heartbeat before tentatively reaching her own hand out. Samantha clasped Christian's hand, her out skin soft, warm and gentle. "What would you suggest I do then?" Her voice quiet.